Archive

Quotes

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

—Shimon Peres, 1995

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

—Henrik Ibsen, 1882

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

—Herodotus, c. 425 BC

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

—Che Guevara, 1968

Envy is the basis of democracy.

—Bertrand Russell, 1930

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

—Hannah Arendt, 1958

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

—John Wilkes Booth, 1865

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

—Frederick the Great, c. 1770

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

—Anacharsis, c. 550 BC

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

—George Borrow, 1843

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330